F 931 
.M45 

THE ""''' 



Price 56 ets. 



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HOW 
TO REACH 
AND OPERATE THEM 

A thrilling account of Mr. John L. Wellington's suc- 
cessful experience among the Gold Fields of Alaska, with 
accurate maps and much valuable information, prepared 
especially for parties desiring to prospect the country. 



THE GOLD FIELDS OF 

^^ ALASKA 



^^ 



ROW TO REACH AND 
OPERATE THEM. 

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A thrilling account of Mr. Wellington's 

successful trip into that country during 

the past season. In which he gives 

all the maps, statistics and 

such other general advice 

and information of 

interest to pros- ', 

pecting parties. 




PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY 

THE BUCKNER PRINTING CO., 

CRIPPLE CREEK, COLO. 



tiip /i-/ 



6SC0N0 COPY. 



Copyrighted, (December 18 g6, 
fBy 
John L. Wellington. 






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PUBLISHER'S NOTICE, 



After going through the regular account 
of his own experience in Alaska, Mr. Well- 
ington has prepared an Appendix in the back 
of the book, containing much general infor- 
mation and advice for the special benefit of 
^ parties desiring to enter the gold fields. 

This will be of great assistance to inex- 
perienced parties in giving them an idea of 
the best sections of the country to visit, and 
in helping thera to select their provisions and 
equipments for this long hazerdous journey 
with care and judgement. No one expect- 
ing to undertake the trials and hardships of 
the trip should fail to read this account and 
take a copy of it with him, as it contains 
much practical information that can not be 
obtained elsewhere, and the most complete 
and reliable maps that are to be had. 




^^( INTRODUCTORY Q 




The gold fields of Alaska are fast be- 
coming the greatest placer mining district 
in the world. The estimated output for 1896 
is $6,000,000. Outside of the enormous 
business that the stamp mills are doing on 
the southern cost, there are about 300 min- 
ers in the Yukon district alone who average 
$20 a day working their own ground, and 
many more who have been fortunate in lo- 
cating claims whose daily output is vastly 
greater. 

The regular wages paid for placer 
mining are $10 per day, and such is the 
richness of the district, that ground that will 
not yield as much as $20 daily per man is 
not considered worth working and is left 
lying idle. 

Gold is found scattered widely along 
the river beds, almost throughout the entire 



INT^ROOUCTQfRY... 

extent of Alaska, in paying quantities, but 
the mad rush of miners is for the richest 
districts that have already been discovered, 
where a fortune may be made in h season.] 

This is a vast country with a wonderful 
future before it. Th -re are thousands of 
miles of river beds that have never been 
explored, offering room and opportunity for 
all who care to endure the hardships for the 
sake of becoming rich. 

Even outside of its gold fields, Alaska 
is one of the most interesting countries on 
the globe. It is called the land of the mid- 
night sun, where they have night all winter 
and day all summer. Its rivers and glaciers 
are wonders in themselves, and in no part 
of the globe is better fishing and hunting to 
be found. The interior abounds in big game, 
the rivers are alive with geese and ducks, 
and along the coast, walrus, seal and polar 
bear are pentiful enough. 

During the long winter, storms are fre- 
quent and the country is rapidly covered 



with snow and ice. It is a commontrick of 
the Thermometer to fall 60 or 80 degrees 
below zero, and when it is remembered that 
the trip into the interior must be made by 
sled over a barren, frozen country for seven 
or eight hundred miles, something of the 
hardships to be endured can be imagined. 

The start is ordinarily made in the latter 
part of march from Juneau City, where 
supplies are to be purchased and an outfit 
carefully equipped. The course from there 
is generally over a snowy chain of moun- 
tains that skirts the southern coast of Alaska, 
by way of Chilkoot pass, where you are 
likely to be frozen to death if you lack the 
patience to wait for good weather before 
attempting to cross this giant mountain of ice. 

After successfully crossing this dreaded 
pass you will find yourself confronted by 
Miles' Canon, White Horse Rapids and Five 
Fingers that stand like giant sentinels in the 
river to dispute your further progress into the 
country. If you are successful in passing 



IJsfT(RO<DUCTOfRY.., 

through these dangerous places, then your 
trials for the time being areover and you will 
have a pleasant sail down the mighty Yukon 
river into the greatest placer gold district on 
earth. 

It was early in the spring of 1896 that 
I started out with two companions from San 
Francisco to try my fortune in this Eldorado 
of the north. What befell us on this jour- 
ney, our rather remarkable trials, misfor- 
tunes and successes, I have set forth in the 
following chapters, to which I invite your 
further inspection. 

J. L. W. 




THE GOLD FIELDS OF 

^ ALASKA ^^ 

BOW TO REACH AND 
OPERATE THEM, 

CHAPTER I. 

The great gold valley of the Yukon 
is reached by two routes. One of these is 
by steamer up the Yukon river, a distance 
of 5,000 miles from San Francisco. This 
is a long and expensive journey, putting you 
into tlie mining district rather late in the 
season. 

Very few miners take that course ; 
most seem to prefer the shorter though more 
hazerdous route by way of Juneau City, 



^5 THE GOm FIEmS OF ALASKA. 

thence over the dreaded Chilkoot pass by 
sled and down a chain of lakes and tributa- 
ries by boat to the mighty Yukon. 

After spending a week in San Francisco, 
making some necessary purchases for the 
journey, our little party of three bought 
tickets and took passage on one of the Pa- 
cific Coast Steamship Go's vessels bound for 
Juneau. A number of steamers belonging 
to this Company ply up and down the coast, 
making regular trips northward weekly and 
cut-rate excursions all through the summer 
to Alaska. These excursions are themselves 
very pleasent trips, even if one has no par- 
ticular desire to visit this wonder-land of the 
north. 

The rates quoted for 1896 for first class 
passage from San Francisco to Juneau City 
are $18 to $25, and about one-half that 
amount for second class. 

On these steamers each individual is 
allowed to take 150 pounds free of charge. 



THE GOW FIEim OF ALASKA. 23 

After getting our baggage properly stowed 
away, we had not long to wait before we 
herrd the welcome cry of "Ready — All 
aboard" — and off we go! The steamer 
carefully wound its way out among the mul- 
titude of vessels anchored about the docks, 
and it was not long before we were consid- 
erably out to sea. Then w^e bid farewell to 
this smoking mart of the Pacific and were 
soon fairly started on our long journey north. 

It is about 1600 miles from San Fran- 
cisco to the little city Juneau set snugly in 
against a mountain peak on the southern 
coast of Alaska. Though rather early in the 
spring, we found the weather pleasant enough 
and the trip very enjoyable. 

Skirting along at no great distance from 
the coast, we had occasion to see some very 
pretty scenery shoreward, while thousands of 
interesting islands from time to time put in 
their appearance about us, some very 
small and others empires in them.selves. 



^4 THE GOW FIELOS OF ALASKA. 

As we approached Alaska, we found the 
northward view obstructed, for hundreds of 
miles along the southern coast, by a range 
of snowy peaked mountains that must be 
crossed before the great valley of the Yukon 
is reached, where such a mad rush of gold 
seekers has been going on for the past few 
years. 

Scattered along this southern coast are 
several ports of some importance, including 
Juneau, the mining and money center of the 
district, and Sitka its sleepy old capital. 

Our vessel had occasion to stop at sev- 
eral of these places before we reached Ju- 
neau. On arriving at that quiet little city, 
we found much that was of interest to us 
during our short stay there. The place is 
well supplied with hotels, restaurants, gen- 
eral business stores, &c., that are reasonable 
enough in price considering their distance 
from the commercial world. 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 2j 

This is the outfitting point for most 
parties going over the range to the gold fields. 
Special outfitting stores here will supply you 
with all the necessary provisions and equip- 
ments for making the journey inland. 

It is sometimes the method of inexperi- 
enced parties to leave the selection and put- 
ting up of this outfit to the merchant from 
whom it is purchased, but it seems to me 
that any one not having confidence enough 
in his own judgement to select and pack an 
outfit even for a hazerdous journey like this, 
would be lacking in the necessary ingenuity 
and strength of character to successfully 
battle with the trials and hardships of the 
interior where there is a possibility of star- 
vation or freezing to death. 

It became necessary now for us to com- 
plete our equipments and make preparations 
for departing. This we did immediately, 
by purchasing a sufficient supply of flour, 
beans, bacon, sugar, coffee, &c., to last us 



^6 THE GOLO FIEWS OF ALASKA. 



for eight months. We also took with us, 
besides plenty of clothing and light warm 
bedding, two Yukon sleighs, a light wind- 
lass and a good quantity of rope, a tent, a 
folding sheet iron stove and cooking vessels, 
and a good supply of nails, hammers, axes, 
picks, shovels and many other miscellaneous 
articles. 

It will be remembered that we had 
previously made some necessary purchases 
in San Francisco for the journey. These 
consisted of fur clothing, rubber boots and 
coats, arms, amunition, &c., any of which 
may be purchased in Juneau at slightly ad- 
vanced prices. 

Before starting, we had also constructed 
a boat of galvanized-iron for use on the 
lakes and rivers. This we afterward found 
to be of great service, for it was light and 
easily portable where it would have been 
very difficult to take anything like a heavy 



THE GOW FIEmS OF ALASKA, ^7 

wooden boat. It was 18 feet long, 4 feet 
broad at the top, 30 inches at the bottom, 
and had a depth oi 2% feet. It was strong- 
ly built of extra heavy galvanized iron, be- 
ing ribbed and braced in such a manner as 
to make it thorroughly substantial. 

This boat weighed 200 pounds and 
would safely carry more than a ton. One 
feature about it that made it of great con- 
venience was the fact of its being built in 
three different sections, water tight and in- 
dependent of one another so far as floating 
qualities were concerned. Its middle sec- 
tion was 6^ feet long and its front and rear 
sections each a little less in length, thus 
making it convenient to pack the sections in- 
side of one another when it became necessa- 
ry to ship it. 

The sections weighed about 65 pounds 
each, thus making it easily portable around 
canons and dangerous places in the rivers ; 



2,8 THE GOLO FIELOS OF ALASKA. 

and for ordinary heavy usage the three sec- 
tions could be quickly and substantially bol- 
ted together. For light rowing and hunting 
purposes the middle section could be left in 
camp and the front and rear sections bolted 
together, thus forming a neat and convenient 
little boat. 

It must be remembered that each sec- 
tion was water-tight in itself, and if one sec- 
tion should be snagged, which was rarely the 
case, the other two, being dry, would be 
sufficient to keep the boat afloat until repairs 
could be made. But this was a trouble that 
seldom delayed us, for the front section, be- 
ing most exposed, was made of extra heavy 
iron doubled. 




CHAPTER II 

From Juneau there are four different 
routes leading into the interior, through as 
many different passes of the coast range. 
That usually taken is through a gap in the 
mountains known as Chilkoot Pass. 

The summit of this pass is 115 miles 
north of Juneau, and the first hundred miles 
of this distance is covered by steamer. 

In the latter part of March we got our 
supplies togtther and took passage on a little 
craft going to Dyea Inlet about 100 miles 
north of Juneau This is the head of salt 
water and usual landing place of parties tak- 
ing this route. 

The fare is $10 and the trip is ordinarily 
made in 12 hours when the weather is good; 
but befort rounding the lower end of Duglas 
Island such terrific waters were encountered 
from the Takou river ihat we were delayed 



30 THE GOm FIELOS OF ALASKA. 

many hours. A cutting north wind was 
sweeping down the valley of the Takou, 
and like an angered demon it came roaring 
out from the river's mouth, lashing the 
foaming water into mountainous billows, 
and in its rage tossing volumes of spray high 
over the top of Grand Island. 

Up to this point all had been easy going 
with our little party, but now for the first 
time, the continued suro^ino: of the waters and 
the terrific bellowing of the north wind, 
sweeping down like a hurricane from the 
arctic reigons, reminded us of the many 
hardships to be endured before we would be 
able to cross the interior and reach comfor- 
table shelter and companionship. 

After a prolonged struggle of several 
hours, durino: which our little craft was all 
but foundered, we succeeded in steaming 
around the head of Duglas Island and pro- 
ceeded safely up the Dyea river. There on 



THE GOL^ FIELOS OF ALASKA. 31 

a sandbank some 15 miles from the renouned 
Chilkoot Pass, the boat landed us, bid us a 
farewell and left our little party to battle 
with the elem.nts asbest it knew how. 

It might be well to state here that my 
two companions were brothers, Jim and John 
T. McCormic. Both of them were experi- 
enced miners, one from the Cripple Creek 
district and the other, whom we picked up 
in California, an old timer in the placer fields 
of that state. 

It was an advantage for me to make 
the trip with these gentlemen. From long 
acquaintaiiceship I knew them to be reliable 
and trustworthy, besides being remarkably 
persevei ing and absolutely fearless. I would 
not care to make this hazerdous trip into 
Alaska with any one who has not the stabil- 
ity and will power to calmly stare Death in 
the face and if need be laugh him out of 
countenance. 



32 THE GOW FIELOS OF ALASKA. 

Turning again to the account in hand, 
we see a long stretch of tide-swept sand 
extending along the water's edge and forming 
the only visible land about us, for snow was 
everywhere in abundance. 

Jumbled together upon the bank, our 
equipments did not form a very interesting 
prospect as compared with the glittering 
scenery about u? and beyond us in the 
mountains. But we did not allow ourselves 
to be delayed long in the contemplation of 
this beautiful scenery, for tht- north wind 
kept up an unpleasant moaning about us and 
the rapid rising of the tide warned us that 
we had not any too much time to gather up 
our chattels and get off the possessions of 
the Ocean. 

All of our perishable goods in the way 
of provisions and supplies were put up in 
strong water-tight bags averaging about 50 
pounds each, thus making them easy to han- 
dle and precluding any possibility of their 



THE GOL'D FIEL'DS OF ALASKA. 33 

becoming damaged by water. 

After substantially bolting the sections 
of our boat together and mounting it on the 
two sleds, we loaded in our supplies and 
made immed'ate preparations for departing. 
Our rou^e lay up the valley of the Dyea 
river, a small stre'>m rising near the foot of 
Chilkoot Pass. After getting our sleighs 
on the frozen surface of this stream, we 
found it easy enough going for a while ; but 
as we advanced the snow grew deeper rap- 
idly and before we had covered the distance 
of five miles from our starting point, we 
found it very difficult to get along at all. 

After struggling through a two foot 
snow all the afternoon, we succeeded in 
reaching the forks of ihe river about seven 
miles from our starting point, and being 
completely exhausted, we camped here for 
the night. Without making any attempt to 
put up our tent, we gathered around the 
boat and partook of a hearty meal. 



34 THE GOW FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

Under such circumstances a bed is 
ordinarily made for the night by spreading 
hemlock brush a foot deep on the snow and 
covering it with canvas and blankets ; but 
our boat contained three departments suffici- 
ently long to make comfortable sleeping 
quarters, and we found it easy enough to 
stretch a stout canvas over their full length 
and support it by means of props in the boat. 
This formed as comfortable sleeping quart- 
ers as one could wish and we retired for the 
night. 

The wind had laid and the silence 
about us was intense, broken only by the 
frequent call of geese flying northward and 
the soft pelting of heavy snow drops on the 
canvas stretched above us. It was snowing 
and as harmlessly as it seemed to fall about 
us, we knew that it boded ill for us on the 
morrow. We were not mistaken, for at 
daylight we awoke and found ourselves 
completely engulfed in a five foot snow. 



1 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 3J 

After breakfasting we broke our way 
along slowly through this soft impediment, 
stopping every few hundred yards to rest. 
But at last our progress became so slow and 
tiresome that we had to resort to the practice 
known as "doubling". Unloading our boat 
we left about one-half of the weight behind, 
taking forward with us one sled and the 
middle section of the boat loaded. 

The first half of the day was spent in 
breaking our way through the snow to a 
place known as Sheep Camp only five miles 
from the forks of the river. Here we de. 
cided to camp for the night, and after taking 
a short rest, we returned at once for our 
other goods. It was easy enough to bring 
up this last section for the trail was already 
broken, and we succeeded in getting back to 
Sheep Camp long before night. 

We were now about twelve miles from 
the coast that we had left the day previous, 



36 THE GOLT) FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

and had something like three miles vc-t to 
cover before reaching the su:nmit of the pass. 
This camp was at the upper limit of timber 
arid practically at the foot of the pass. 

A scattering growth of stunted spruce- 
trees stretched away far below us to the 
ocean, and great precipitous slopes of snow 
and ice towered above us looking not a 
little discoura^inoj. Throu^rh a lonj^ Sforgfe 
enclosed by the steep walls of snjvv-covered 
mountains, wtr could see at the summit, 
thousands of feet above, a little gap known 
as the Chilkoot Pass, the gateway to the 
Yukon valley. 

The seriousness of the task before us 
was now apparent. Taking about one-third 
of our suppliet we pressed forward with a 
will and succeeded in re- ching the foot of 
the last and hardest part or the ascent, about 
a half-mile from the summit. Here we 
decided to stop for the night and hurried 



THE GOL'D FIELOS OF ALASKA. 3j 

back at once to bring up the rest of our 
supplies, Wt found the ascent easier than 
we expected, for the snow at this altitude 
was frozen just hard enough to afford good 
footing*. 

From this camp it is about one-half 
mile to the summit, but the route is through 
a deep trough of glittering ice and hard- 
crusted snow as steep as the roof of a house, 
with huge masses of precipitous mountains 
on either hand hurried in perpetual snow 
and ice, nobody knows how deep. 

After passing a remarkably stormy 
night in which the wind howled about us 
drifting a torrent of sleet and snow down the 
gorge, we were up at daylight to find the sky 
clear and the air sharp as a knife's edge. 

Taking a portion of our supplies on one 
of the sleds, we started out boldly to make 
the last and most difficult part of the ascent, 
zigzagging our way slowly along up this 



38 THE GOLO FIEL'DS OF ALASKA. 

glistening trough of ice. But we had not 
proceeded far before the ascent became so 
steep and slippery that we had to resort to 
the common method of cutting every foot- 
step in the ice with a hatchet. This was 
painfully slow work and it was something 
like three hours before we were able to cover 
the short distance and rest upon the narrow 
crest of frozen snow and ice that divides 
the great Yukon basin from the mighty ocean. 




CHAPTER III 

It was almost dark before we got 
everything to the top of the pass and sat 
down on our sleds to look back over the 
dizzy trail of snow and ice stretching away 
thousands of feet below us to the ocean. 

The course is only fifteen miles in length, 
but it had taken us three days of excessive 
labor to traverse it, and with a sigh of relief 
we turned our backs upon it and bid fare- 
well to hotels, restaurants, stores, and all 
the conventional forms and laws of society 
and civilization as they are the outgrowth of 
organized government*. 

Jumbled about us on either hand were 
great masses of craggy peaks hurried forever 
in a perpetual sheet of snow and ice, glitter- 
ing in the last rays of the setting sun ; but 
our gaze was fixed more intently to the'north- 
ward, where the great valley of the Yukon 



4 o THE GOLO FIEWS OF ALASKA. 

and its gold-freighted tributaries stretches 
away in spotless billows of white, with 
neither rock, nor tree, nor shrub, nor any 
visible signs of life to mar the beauty of 
that vast blanket of snow rolling away to the 
northward as far as the eye could see. 

After passing a disagreeable night on 
the summit, we tied everything on the sleds 
in the morning and started down the steep 
decent at a lively pace. The snow was 
frozen hard and we found it difficult to con- 
trole the sleds, so we decided to get on board 
and turn them loose, taking chances with 
whatever obstructions we might encounter 
in a wild ride down the broad bottom of the 
gorge. 

The Iseds were heavy laden and with 
our extra weight added to them they flew 
down the glassy slope with the speed of an 
express train, writhing and screaking under 
the weight and sometimes clearing the snow 
for thirty feet at a bound. 



THE GOLO FIEWS OF ALASKA. 41 

No sooner had we got well under 
headway than we began to wonder how we 
were to stop, and we were not long in find- 
ing out. 

As we flew down the broad bottom of 
the gorge at a dangerously increasing speed, 
bounding over one eminence after another, 
we overtook and passed an Indian scudding 
along on snowshoes. At this point we no- 
ticed that the snow was becoming softer in 
the descent, and about a half mile below our 
front sleigh swung around to the left over 
some obstruction, and dashing off down a 
small ravine, jumped a steep embankment 
and tumbled us pell-mell into a deep drift of 
soft snow at the bottom. 

For a few moments the air was full of 
flying snow, tin cans, blankets, saws, provis- 
ions and a sinful waste of profanity. By 
the time we had scrambled up a little and 
began to realize our situation, the Indian had 
overtaken us and was standing on the prec- 



4^ THE GOm FIEWS OF ALASKA. 

ipice above peering down at our pitiable 
condition with something like a grin on his 
sallow sunken face. He took in the situa- 
tion at a glance, and without a word began 
to fish after us with a long pole he carried 
with him having rn iron hook attached to 
the end of it. 

We were in the pit, and I might say in 
the soup, and the form working above us 
with the hook bore such a striking resem- 
blance to that usually ascribed to the evil 
one, that we were afterwards led to name 
this worthy fellow Mephisto. 

It is now only a short distance to the 
head of Lake Linderman, where a little 
stream bubbling up from the ground creeps 
away under the snow forming the very be- 
ginning of the mighty Yukon river. This 
is the first of a series of lakes, from three 
to thirty miles in length, that form the upper 
Yukon. These lakes remain frozen until 
June and must be crossed by means of sleighs, 



THE GOW FIELDS OF ALASKA. 43 



requiring many a long hard day's portage. 
Ordinarily a strong wind is blowing from 
the south, and by erecting a large canvas 
sail, we were able to scud along over the 
surface of most of them with comparative ease. 

The last two lakes of the chain, Lake 
Marsh and Lake Lebarge, are connected 
by a river fifty-five miles in length, but in 
this short space are the greatest obstructions 
to river navigation in the whole Yukon 
system. — Miles Canon and the White Horse 
Rapids. Miles Canon, above everything 
else is dreaded by Yukon traveller?. More 
than a dozer* men have gone down with their 
boats in thi> wild maelstrom of water never 
to rise again. 

Above the canon, the river is about 
three hundred feet wide. At its mouth it 
suddenly contracts to thirty feet, and increas- 
ing its velocity to twenty miles an hour 
rushes with maddening force through a 
c anon with absolutely perpendicular walls a 



44 THE GOm FIEim OF ALASKA. 

hundred feet high and three-quarters of a 
mile long. 

After successfully crossing Lake Marsh 
we found the river open, and packing every- 
thing in the boat, we floated down the stream. 
The Indian who had helped us out of the pit 
was practically without provisions or any 
visible means of support outside of a very 
fine Winchester with which he was remark- 
ably skillful. After taking a long strong pull 
at a flask we had with us, he very readily 
consented to accompany our party under the 
condition that he be allowed to indulge in 
this same pull occasionally. He had trav- 
ersed the course we were following several 
times, and being well posted on many sub- 
jects connected with the country, he proved 
a valuable addition to our party. 

On reaching the mouth of Miles Canon, 
we found a landing and looked about us a 
little. Truly it was a formidable looking 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 4^ 

place, with a thundering torrent of water 
rushing madly through a long narrow o^ap in 
the rock. Mephisto said it would take us 
about four days to carry our supplies around 
it and two minutes to run boldly through. 
He stated further that he had run through 
twice with other parties and expressed a 
willingness to take the boat through by 
himself under condition that he be allowed 
an immediate draw at the flask ; but this was 
not our way of doing business. We gave 
him a dram, however, and stationed him in 
front to do the steering, as he knew the 
course best. Then we all got in and let 
her go. Down she went like a rocket, sway- 
ing with the current and churning up and 
down like a bucking bronco. By frantic 
paddling, we managed to keep her in the 
middle of the stream and off from the walls 
against which so many boats have been 
smashed like an egg-shell. So deafening 



40 THE GOL^I) FIEWS OF ALASKj. 

is the roar of the waters and so quick and 
exciting the run, that I doubt whether any- 
body in the boat, outside of Mephisto, rea- 
lized what was taking place, until it was all 
over and all danger passed. 

Below the canon the river spreads out 
to its normal width in a series of rapids that 
culminate three miles below in the White 
Horse, a bad piece of water that we found 
it necessary to carry our supplies around, 
going into camp at the foot of the rapids. 

From this camp it was about twenty- 
five miles down the river to Lake Lebarge, 
the last and largest of the chain. On reach- 
ing this lake, we found it still frozen, but 
the ice was so soft that it was very difBcuif 
to get our sleighs along. After dragging our 
supplies along through the sloppy ice for 
three long days, we reached the lower end 
of the lake and again found open water. 
From the excessive labor, we were worn 
out, wet and bedraggled : and the elder 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 47 

McCormic made Mephisto a present of a 
pint bottle of liquor for the valuable services 
he had rendered us during this long portage. 
I never saw an Indian so elated in my 
life, and from this forward, I believe he 
would have stuck his head into a flaming 
furnace for our sake. His first impulse was 
to lick the bottle dry and fairly chew the 
cork into small bits ;then in course of half an 
hour, he was becoming pretty well intoxica- 
ted, and began to be very communicative. 
He sat down on a log and told us a long 
story of a series of rich gold bars he had 
found far up on a tributary of the Yukon. 
After finishing his story, he asked for another 
dram of whiskey, and McCormic gave it to 
him. Then he invited us to go and help 
him work his claims, offering us an equal 
share in the rich deposits along the stream. 
In the meanwhile he was fumbling about 
his clothing, seemingly with an effort to 
find something. He said that he had some 



4 8 THE GOW FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

fine gold-specimens about him somewhere 
that he had taken out the previous season, 
but that he would be unable to find them 
unless he had another drink to quiet his 
nerves. Things were becoming interest- 
ing and McCormic gave him another dram, 
whereupon he produced a greasy deerskin 
pouch and poured out into his cap about 
three ounces of the finest gold nuggets I 
have ever seen. 




CHAPTER IV. 

In the morning after Mephisto had 
recovered from his intoxication he went 
over the story of his gold claims again and 
insisted that we should go and help him 
work them. He said that he had washed 
out $2,000 by himself during the last season, 
and with a knowing jesture at the liquor jug 
he indicated where it had all gone to. 

After carefully considering the matter, 
we decided that we had nothing to loose and 
all to gain, as the vacinity into which he 
wanted to take us would at least afford inter- 
esting prospecting ; so the boat was launched 
again with Mephisto as a delighted guide 
and we dropped down the stream to the junc- 
tion of Pelly River. We afterwards passed 
White River on our left and Stewart on our 
right, and then for six long weeks, day after 
day, we pulled against strong currents and 
contrary winds, carrying our supplies around 



^o THE GOW FIEmS OF ALASKA. 

many falls and rapids, until we had begun 
to think that our red friend would never 
call a halt. 

We were now in one of the wildest and 
most heavy wooded countries I have ever 
seen, and one day when we were far up 
near the head of a little creek, Mephisto 
announced the fact that our journey was at 
an end, and we went into camp under the 
lee of a great bluff, with pine trees towering 
everywhere about us and a fine spring bub- 
bling from the ground. 

After prospecting the stream sufficiently 
to learn the richness of the district, all wash- 
ing was abandoned and we went to work 
with a will to felling trees and sawing up 
lumber for the purpose of constructing sluice 
boxes. 

The spring was now well advanced and 
the sun began to circle about the heavens, 
never going out of sight, and before long all 
the mountains and the valleys were covered 



THE GOLO FIELOS OF ALASKA, ji 

with the most luxuriant growth of flowers 
imaginable. A great variety of game was 
in abundance everywhere, even in the imme- 
diate vicinity of our camp, and Mephisto 
kept us supplied with the choicest of fresh 
meets. 

After getting our sluice boxes in 
operation, we kept a continual stream of 
dirt and gravel washing through them all 
the time, and such was the richness of the 
bars, that we were able to clear up from 
$400 to $1000 per day. The season was 
well advanced and we knew that within a 
couple of months the north wind would be 
sweeping down on us with a torrent of sleet 
and snow, freezing the ground and making 
further progress very difficult. So we work- 
ed with a will all the time, hardly taking 
time to eat and sleep, and at the end of sixty 
days, we had succeeded in taking out $48,000 
worth of very fine nuggets. 



32 THE GOm FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

After closing operations for the season, 
we looked the ground over carefully and 
came to the conclusion that we had hardly 
made any impression on the deposits of this 
rich district. We made «in estimate that 
there were more than a million dollars worth 
of gold imbeded in the bars of this little crtek. 

The summer was now far advanced, 
and the indications were for cold weather 
soon. As we wanted to reach the Yukon 
and get out before the river froze, we thought 
it a good plan to start at once for the course 
down stream was a long and difficult route. 

Mephisto expresssed a desire to stay in 
camp during the winter, as he wanted to do 
some trapping and considered the locality 
very promising for that purpose. So we 
left many of our equipments with him and 
what provisions we had except enough to 
last us until we reached Forty Mile. As it 
is our intention to work the claims during 
the coming season, Mephisto agreed to 



THE GOL'D FIELDS OF ALASKA. S3 

coQie overland on his snowshoes to Circle 
City early in tne spring and help us bring up 
supplies to last through the next summer. 
We left him in the operation of building a 
kind of hut for winter quarters, and in all 
probability he will be able to gather in as 
much as $2000 worth of furs during the 
winter. 

Taking the boat and a few supplies, we 
started on our long journey down stream, 
passing successfully through Forty Mile 
c unp and reaching Circle City several days 
before the last steamer of the season started 
down the river homeward bound. 

The McCormic brothers decided to 
spend the \\ inter in Circle City, so I took 
passage on the stf amer by myself and made 
the long trip down the Yukon river and 
back on the Pacific Ocean to San Francisco. 



APPENDIX. 

GENERAL NOTES OF INTEREST. 



WAGES 

$1000 is tlie amount of a seasons wages 
in the Yukon district. 

Circle City has doubled in population 
this summer and anyone who can handle a 
saw and hammer has no difficulty in securing 
employment. 

A Chilkat Indian arrived in Juneau last 
week from Circle City with $1600 in gold 
dust, the result of a year's labor about the 
trading posts of the Yukon. 

$10 per day are the regular wages paid 
to miners, but men have been offered $12 
per day in Circle City to go to the new 
diggings along the various creeks, and men 
who do not care to work claims of their own 
will find little difficulty in securing employ- 
ment. 



3 6 THE GOLO FIEmS OF ALASKA, 

TRANSPORTATION. 

About thirty horses have been taken to 
Circle City during the past summer for 
transportation purposes. The trip inland, 
usually made by dogs, sleighs and boat, has 
been very successfully covered lately by 
means of horses across the country. Grass 
abounds everywhere and an abundance of 
hay can be cut and cured to last stock through 
the winter. 

It is a difficult matter to get supplies 
from Circle City and Forty Mile to the 
various camps situated along the small creeks 
of the district, as much as sixty and eighty 
cents per pound being charged for their 
transportation. 

In the winter dogs and sleighs are employ- 
ed for this purpose, but during the hot sum- 
mer months what can not be packed on the 
backs of dogs must be carried by human 
agency. But the taking in of a drove of 
cattle and a number of horses during the 
season will grately facilitate the matter of 
transportation. 



THE GOW FIELDS OF ALASKA. 57 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 

Forty Mile is just in side the British 
possessions. 

Circle City is 200 miles down the river. 

Harper's trading post is at the mouth of 
Pelly river. 

Dalton's trading post is on the head waters 
of the Alsec river. 

Only 300 feet can be taken up in a claim 
by one man. 

$5 per foot per year is the tax levied on 
claims in the British possessions. 

No tax is charged on claims in American 
possessions. 

There are 25 mounted police at Forty Mile. 

There is no law at Circle City but miners' 
law. 

Forty Mile creek, Birch creek, Mastodon 
creek. Eagle creek, Deadwood creek, Bo- 
nanza creek, and Harrison Creek are a few 
of the small streams that are being worked 
and are found to be wonderfully rich in 
gold deposits. 



j8 THE GOW FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

TABLE OF DISTANCES. 
FROM JUNEAU 

MILES. 

To Haines (Chilkat) 80 

" Dyea (Chilkoot) 100 

" Head of canoe navigation 106 

" Summit of Chilkoot Pass 115 

" Lake Linderman (length 6 mi) 124 

" Lake Bennett (length 26 mi) 129 

" Lake Takou 175 

" Takish House 179 

" Mud Lake 180 

" Lake Marsh (length 23 mi) 200 

" Miles Canon 225 

" White Horse Rapids 228 

" Boundary bet. B. C. & N. W. T. 139 

" Takheena River 240 

" Lake LeBarge (length 32 mi) 256 

" Hootalinqua River 320 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA, jg 



To Cassiar Bar 


347 


" Little Salmon River 


390 


" Five Fingers 


451 


" Pelly River (Harpers Post) 


5'o 


" White River 


630 


" Stewart River 


630 


" Forty Mile Creek 


750 


" Circle City 


950 



OTHER DISTANCES. 



To Sitka, the Capital 


160 


" Wrangel 


148 


" Seattle 


899 


" Cooks Inlet 


600 


" San Francisco 


1596 



6o THE GOLT) FIELOS OF ALASKA. 

ESQUIMAU DOGS. 

Much of the transportation about Forty 
Mile and Circle City is carried on by means 
of Esquimau Dogs. In the winter time a 
half-dozen or more are hooked to a sleigh 
and the driver is able to scud away over the 
snow at a lively pace with quite a load of 
freight. In the summer time when the ab- 
sence of snow renders sleighing impossible, 
they are used as pack animals, and all kinds 
of supplies are tied on their backs to be 
transfered over the rough mountain course 
to the various camps situated on Birch Creek 
and other tributaries of the Yukon. 

When properly hooked up, a pair of 
dogs are capable of pulling three or four 
hundred pounds, and when a dozen or more 
are attached to one sled they become very 
efficient for transportation purposes. 

The Indians use them exclusively and 
many mining parties are indebted to their 



THE GOm FIELDS OF ALASKA. 61 

service for a safe passage over the coast 
range and down the frozen lakes to the Yukon. 

During the long winter months they are 
also used by the mail carriers between Juneau 
and Circle City, a distance of 1000 miles 
over a barren frozen country that must be 
crossed several times during the winter. 
For this purpose they are invaluable, but on 
some of these winter trips the weather is so 
severe that all the dogs are frozen to death 
and man has difficulty in sustaining life. 

From practice and sheer necessity the 
Esquimau dog has decome accustomed to 
eating raw fish of which he seems to be 
very fond. In some sections of the country 
they can be had at very reasonable prices, 
but around the interior mining camps good 
sled dogs are worth fron $100 to $150 each, 
for transportation purposes. 



62, THE GOLO FIEWS OF ALASKA. 



THE MAILS. 

On the establishment of Forty Mile and 
Circle City on the Yukon the Government 
found it necessary to extend the mail system 
to these two camps. 

During the summer months when the 
river is open, this is easy enough done by 
means of the steamers that make several 
trips to the main camps and trading posts of 
the district, but during the long severe 
winter when the river is frozen and all the 
country is covered with snow, it becomes 
necessary to transport the mails across the 
country from Juneau on snow shoes. 

This is a very difficult and dangerous 
undertaking on account of the distance to be 
covered and the frequent storms and blizards 
that sweep over the country during the 
winter months. Few men, even the hardiest. 



THE GOW FIE LOS OF ALASKA. 63 

would care to undertake the trip during severe 
weather. Nothing but letters are taken by 
the carriers, and seldome more than one or 
two thousand at a time. 

In the early days the mail did not reach 
this remote district oftener than once or twice 
a year, but arrangements have been made 
lately by which three or four round trips are 
to be made overland on snow shoes during 
the winter and as many by steamer during 

the summer months. 

The arrival of the mail at one of these 
remote camps is an important event of the 
year, and men, women and children come 
hurrying from all quarters to hear the news 
from the outside world. 



64 THE GOLfD FlSms OF ALASKA. 
PRICES ON THE YUKON. 

Prices of everything on the Yukon were 
formerly very high and it was customary for 
parties to take in enough supplies to last 
them till they returned, but the competition 
of the two steamboat lines have cut the prices 
of things down to such an extent that many 
parties prefer to buy their supplies at Circle 
City or Forty Mile. 

Ordinarily the cost of provisions and 
supplies at these two places will be three or 
four times the amount charged for them in 
the states. The following will give some 
idea of the amount paid for staple articles. 
Flour per hundred $8.00 

Bacon per pound .50 

Sugar per pound -SS/^ 

Lumber per thousand 100.00 

Wood per cord 17.00 

Gold Dust per ounce 17.00 

Esquimau Dogs 100.00 to 150.00 



THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 63 

WINTERING ON THE YUKON. 

In the early days it was a practice of 
the miners, and is yet to some extent, to put 
in a summer's work and get out of the coun- 
try before the long winter sets in, but of late 
years many people are wintering in various 
parts of the country. 

About 1000 people will pass the winter 
of '96 and '97 at Circle City, in order to be 
on the ground early in the spring for work. 
A few will operate their claims by thawing 
the ground and washing out the gold, while 
others will employ their time in trapping 
about the country and collecting the valuable 
furs in which Alaska abounds. 

This is one of the greatest fur producing 
countries in the world. Outside of the 
enormous number of seals and other valuable 
skins taken on the coast, the interior abounds 
in a great variety of valuable pelts, bringing 
in San Francisco from one to several hun- 
dred dollars apiece ; and many people profit 
by collecting these in connection with their 
prospecting. 



66 THE GOLO FIE LOS OF ALASKA. 

COST OF OUTFITS. 

The cost of equipping an outfit for 
making a trip into the interior of Alaska 
will depend much on the taste, care and 
good judgement of the purchaser. 

Some claim that the trip should not be 
undertaken with less than $500 per man, but 
old timers say that with care it can be safely 
made with half that amount, and many have 
gone in on almost nothing. 

Juneau merchants make a specialty of 
equipping Yukon miners with outfits costing 
from $50 to $150, and it is advisable to 
delay the purchase of provisions at least till 
Juneau is reached. 

Of course, the cost of outfits and the 
amount to be taken in will depend much on 
the locality to be visited and the length of 
time the party expects to be out. If Forty 
Mile or Circle City is to be visited, then 
just sufficient provisions may be taken in to 

LofC. 



THE GOm FIE LOS OF ALASKA . 6j 

last till one of these camps is reached, where 
supply houses will furnish you with flour at 
$6 to $8 per hundred, and other necessities 
at proportionate prices which are low enough 
when the grate difficulty of taking supplies 
in is considered. 

On the other hand, if a new section of 
the country is to be visited enough provisions 
must be taken in to last till the party returns. 
It is a good plan for four or five to go to- 
gether, in which case about 400 pounds per 
man will make a good outfit, although some 
take in as much as a ton per man when they 
expect to be out a couple of years. 

At whatever season the trip is made the 
outfit must be selected and put up with the 
gratest of care. All perishable goods should 
be packed in water-tight bags made of skin 
or of rubber cloth sewed and cemented. 
This will protect them against any possibility 
of becoming damaged by snow or rain. 



68 THE GOLO FIELDS OF ALASKA. 

Only the strongest and most substantial 
foods should be selected, including a good 
supply of meat, for the game of the country 
is seldome to be had without going back into 
the hills after it. 

Plenty of arms and amunition, with 
snow shoes, sleighs, axes, picks, shovels, 
hand and whip saws should form a part of 
every outfit. If a boat is not taken it may 
become necessary to saw up lumber and 
build one on some of the lakes, and plenty 
of tar, nails and packing should be taken 
along for that purpose. 

The gratest care must be exercised in 
the choice of fur and woolen clothing with a 
water-proof suit, for only the heaviest will 
be sufficient to keep out the severe cold of 
the winter and the heavy rains of the summer. 



THE GOW FIEL^DS OF ALASKA. 6g 



COOKS INLET. 

This is a placer mining district on the 
main land 600 miles west of Sitka. For a 
number of years the numerous creeks in the 
district have been prospected with promising 
results, and late in the fall of '94 rumors of 
rich deposits brought a horde of miners to 
the scene. 

In the spring the excitement increased 
and the tide of travel set in for Cook's Inlet. 
It is an extensive district with many streams 
and tributaries, hundreds of miles of which 
have never yet been prospected. Gold is 
found scattered widely throughout the dis- 
trict in small quantities, showing a certainty 
of fine deposits somewhere in the vicinity, 
but as yet only a few" rich claims have been 
located* 



JO THE GOW FIELOS OF ALASKA. 
CONCERNING PLACERS. 

FROM ALASKA NEWS. 

All gold, as far as known, was originally 
deposited in veins imbeded in quartz or other 
minerals in the mountains, and that now 
found in placers has been worn out of these 
veins by the action of the weather, water 
and glaciers and deposited with the decom- 
posed rocks in its present position in gulches 
and river beds. The most efficient agents 
in this work were the glaciers or streams of 
ice, such as are now at work in the moun- 
tains of Alaska, grinding out the precious 
metals. They were the mills of God, which 
turned out the gold of most of our placers. 
They ground slow, but they ground on and 
on through countless ages, crushing all be- 
neath them and pulverizing the gold bearing 
rocks. 

There is nothing in nature or art so well 
calculated as glaciers to grind up the rocks 
and carry the sands, gravels, holders and 
gold down into the gulches and deposit them 
as we find them in our placers. 



THE GOLTi FIEWS OF ALASKA. 71 

On the supposition that the gold was 
brought down by streams of water, it is dif- 
ficult to explain how so much of it got upon 
high bars and why the most of it was left on 
the north and east sides of the gulches ; but 
these are just the places where glaciers would 
melt most and leave the most of their freight. 

With these facts in mind the prospector 
will find much aid in examining the form of 
the gulch, to determine where the glacier 
flowing through it would pile up its freight 
of ground, where the sun would strike it 
hottest and melt it most and where it left 
most of the gravel, for these places would 
be the richest parts of the placer. 

In gulches bordered by high mountains 
the north and east side would have the most 
sun and consequently the most gold. 

Where the gulch widened out and let in 
the sun, there the ice river would spread out, 
melt and leave more or less of its rich load. 

Where the gulch opens into a valley is 
the place where it would finally melt and 
leave what was left of its precious freight. 



Jt).!^ - 5.2: 190\ 



7^ THE GOLO FIEms OF ALASKA. 



CANNING ESTABLISHMENTS. 

The Salmon fisheries of Alaska are an 
immense industry in themselves. More than 
^i9'379 cases of salmon were caught and 
packed last year and the amount packed this 
year will be much in excess. 

There are twenty-nine canneries in 
operation, employing about 6000 white men, 
Chinese and Indians. 

The fish supply seems to be inexhaustible. 
After twelve years of fishing in these waters, 
and the taking of 288,000,000 pounds, or 
144,000 tons of salmon there appears to be 
more fish this year than ever. In July last 
at Karlux 100,000 were caught at one haul 
of the seine. 



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